Tesco in Court Over Tyre Inflation Policy

A disabled Flintshire woman is suing Tesco under the Disability Discrimination Act as she claims staff refused to inflate her vehicle’s tyres on the grounds that they were not permitted to. Jenny Crowly, 51, claims that staff at the Tesco service station in Mold told her they were not insured to conduct the tyre inflation procedure, a decision Mrs Crowly attests prevents her from utlising the free air service on offer.

Mrs Crowly has fibro myalgia, a condition affecting the muscles, and additionally requires regular cortisone injections to control the affects of arthritis. When her complaint was presented in the Mold Crown Court, Mrs Crowly stated that she was unable to bend down and maintain the pressure on the nozzle without experiencing a significant degree of pain.

Lynn Dutton, the Tesco employee alleged to have refused Mrs Crowly’s request in March 2007, told the court she was following a non-assistance policy she was already aware of, and has since learned that health and safety issues are the basis of this policy. The manager of the Mold Tesco store at the time of the incident added that staff were permitted to hold the hose while the customer inflated the tyres, and an arrangement was in place with a local tyre dealer to provide additional services to those customers unable to negotiate the procedure. Mrs Crowly, he said, had been offered this option.

The policy of not assisting customers with tyre inflation has been in place since 2001, reported Tesco’s petrol stations operations manager Richard Jackson. He told the court that health and safety factors make inflating customer’s tyres out of the question, and Tesco’s solicitor advocate, Toby Starr, said that the company did not provide a tyre pumping service to anyone. The tyre inflation equipment is a facility, not a service. Offering such a service would require extra trained staff, he added.

District Judge Viv Reaves reserved judgement on the issue. While commenting to the effect that this was an individual claim made to a small claims court, he added that there “may be wider ramifications” arising from it.